NASCAR'S biggest upset?

Bowtie3

Bowtie3

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I think one thing all sports fans agree on is our love of a great upset.

Where would y'all rank Buescher's win today?

As far as the cup series races , I'd say it's the biggest since I've been watching.
Derrike Cope is close, as is Bayne and Ragan at Talladega. Jamie McMuarray and Kevin Harvick also come to mind.

David Gilliland winning that Busch race at Kentucky I think, may be the single race biggest upset in all of NASCAR, in my opinion .


I know its different, but Alan Kulwicki's championship in my opinion is the greatest upset in Motorsports history.
 
JD McNugent said:
Does not rank very high given the race was called before playing out.
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He/the team put him in position to win. With all due respect to Tim Daland, that's the one thing you have to do to win a race. A win is a win.
 
Bowtie3 said:
I think one thing all sports fans agree on is our love of a great upset.

Where would y'all rank Buescher's win today?

As far as the cup series races , I'd say it's the biggest since I've been watching.
Derrike Cope is close, as is Bayne and Ragan at Talladega. Jamie McMuarray and Kevin Harvick also come to mind.

David Gilliland winning that Busch race at Kentucky I think, may be the single race biggest upset in all of NASCAR, in my opinion .


I know its different, but Alan Kulwicki's championship in my opinion is the greatest upset in Motorsports history.
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IMO an upset is something like the Miracle on Ice back in 1980 as undermanned and inexperienced US amateur hockey players imposed their will and work ethic on the other teams and won gold. I see today's occurrence as a happenstance as it had nothing to do driving acumen or anything other than being in the right place at the right time.
 
Bowtie3 said:
He/the team put him in position to win. With all due respect to Tim Daland, that's the one thing you have to do to win a race. A win is a win.
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Tim daland the owner of the Cole trickle city Chevrolet car?
 
Greg Sacks 1985 Firecracker 400. Showed up in a Diegard Racing Gary Nelson prepared car. Probably cheated up to the max, and flat out ran Bill Elliott at a time and place when he was virtually unbeatable.

Sacks never had any other cup performance that remotely resembled that day. I wouldn't attribute it to Daytona or an RP track either. The plate wasn't used then, and those Firecracker 400s were run during the day in the Florida sun. It wasnt constant wide open full throttle laps. I believe it was a tricked Gary Neslon car that made the difference.
 
Greg said:
Greg Sacks 1985 Firecracker 400. Showed up in a Diegard Racing Gary Nelson prepared car. Probably cheated up to the max, and flat out ran Bill Elliott at a time and place when he was virtually unbeatable.

Sacks never had any other cup performance that remotely resembled that day. I wouldn't attribute it to Daytona or an RP track either. The plate wasn't used then, and those Firecracker 400s were run during the day in the Florida sun. It wasnt constant wide open full throttle laps. I believe it was a tricked Gary Neslon car that made the difference.
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The Sacks win is what came to mind too. The car wasn't suppose to run but a few laps as part of a R&D deal but ended up running near the front from the start.

Sacks loved to push his car to the brink when it came to Daytona and Talladega. He would run basically no spoiler which caused his car to be extremely unsettled in traffic. Drivers would openly complain that his cars weren't safe. He nearly won the Winston 500 at Talladega in '90 in the Slim Fast car. He then took out 2/3 of the field at Daytona.

Bobby Hillin also scored a huge upset at Michigan in the mid to late 80's....
 
Alan Kulwicki 1992 Winston Cup Champion. It was worthy and he earned it.

But Bill Elliott and Jr Johnson teamed up that year and was immediately fast. He won four in a row early during the season and seemed ready to dominate.
Davey Allison was even faster most of the season and apart from a few crashes he should have went to Atlanta with the title clenched.

I still have the greatest respect for what Kulwicki accomplished. It was an incredible performance were he seized every opportunity.

But still a huge I didnt see that coming event.
 
Derrike Cope won another race in 1990 after Daytona so I'm not sure that counts as a huge upset.

Gilliland at Kentucky in BGN was wild. I have no idea what team he was driving for, I hadn't even heard of them.

As far as Cup goes, most upsets over the years were at plate tracks, fuel mileage races, rain shortages, etc. So I'm gonna go with Regan Smith at Darlington.
 
Shortened races don't count. Regan Smith's two cup wins are big(yes two), Jamie Mac in the 600, and Harvick at Atlanta... Sadler for The Wood Bro's at Bristol, Andretti at Martinsville, and Craven at Darlington are the best that I remember.
 
4tires17gals said:
Kyle Petty at Dover after having steel knees.
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I was there for that race. Kyle flat out dominated that day. Ted Musgrave was the only one who could hang with him iirc. Petty nearly won in the Hot Wheels car at Dover a year or two later. He had the best car but lost out on fuel mileage.
 
Keselowski's first win at Talledega for James Finch I think it was? Of course he wrecked Edwards who tries to block him so it shouldn't count.
 
How about Kyle Petty's first win. Taking the lead after Dale and Darrell tangle.
 
I would put Casey Mears ahead of Buescher because that race went the full distance. #2 would be Cope
 
Menard Brickyard 400 was pretty big, considering Gordon was a mile ahead of everyone else.
 
ToyYoda said:
I thought Robby Gordon's first win at New Hampshire in 2001 was a pretty big upset. Gordon was always a guy you could see winning on a RC but not really anywhere else, it was a pretty big surprise when he got his first career win on an oval.
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Wrecking someone to do it though. Robby's greatest attribute.
 
LOL CB winning a weather shortened race is not an upset

I am going to say Craven and Kurt 2003 Darlington , that was an upset win
 
jws926 said:
Dare I ?, no, I wont do it, I wont mention it, nope, I am not going to mention the 2007 Daytona 500 :laugh:
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ReturnTrip said:
Menard Brickyard 400 was pretty big, considering Gordon was a mile ahead of everyone else.
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I'm not sure if I would consider that an upset. Menard had a great car that day and mirrored Gordon's time on the final lap...with 25+ lap older tires than Gordon. Plus I think that was one of the years when Menard was consistently competing for top-10's.
 
Greg said:
Greg Sacks 1985 Firecracker 400. Showed up in a Diegard Racing Gary Nelson prepared car. Probably cheated up to the max, and flat out ran Bill Elliott at a time and place when he was virtually unbeatable.

Sacks never had any other cup performance that remotely resembled that day. I wouldn't attribute it to Daytona or an RP track either. The plate wasn't used then, and those Firecracker 400s were run during the day in the Florida sun. It wasnt constant wide open full throttle laps. I believe it was a tricked Gary Neslon car that made the difference.
Click to expand...

You know if Gary was involved it was cheated up as much as possible.
 
Greg said:
Alan Kulwicki 1992 Winston Cup Champion. It was worthy and he earned it.

But Bill Elliott and Jr Johnson teamed up that year and was immediately fast. He won four in a row early during the season and seemed ready to dominate.
Davey Allison was even faster most of the season and apart from a few crashes he should have went to Atlanta with the title clenched.

I still have the greatest respect for what Kulwicki accomplished. It was an incredible performance were he seized every opportunity.

But still a huge I didnt see that coming event.
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Kulwicki led the points race 1time in his career, when he won it. He won the championship that year by leading one more lap at Atlanta than Elliott giving him a 10 point swing which won him the championship.
 
I'll vote for David Ragan at Dega only because I don't remember or never saw some of the other upsets that have been mentioned.
 
Most of the biggest upsets were on the big track, pre-plate days. With the plates, just about everyone had a chance. Before those days, you had Greg Sacks, Phil Parsons, Ron Bouchard, Bobby Hillin Jr., and some others. And don't forget Lake Speed at Darlington.
 
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